School inside Korea DMZ includes English

On the southern side, Taesungdong's farmers grow prized organic rice, greens, beans and chili peppers in the shadow of the military and North Korea's towering flagpole. Villagers are well aware they are in a danger zone.

"They feel it. They can see it," said Lt. Col. John Rhodes, the American commander of the United Nations Command Security Battalion-Joint Security Area. "They can see KPA (Korean People's Army) soldiers (from North Korea) when they're out in the fields farming."

Recent speculation about the health of North Korea's Stalinist leader, Kim Jong Il, has trained even more eyes on the border. The 66-year-old leader has not been seen in public in more than a month, and South Korean and U.S. officials say he suffered a stroke. Some fear if Kim dies with no named successor, the regime could collapse, sending hordes of North Koreans fleeing.

Rhodes says his command's mission is to keep the village safe. But he said he also wants to bring a bit of the wider world to tiny, closed-off Taesungdong.

"I grew up in West Virginia, so this area's similar to me: It's country," he said.

Rhodes, who has been in Korea since 2006 and took over command of the Joint Security Area in June, has worked to help bring children from outside the DMZ to the school by bus, said councilor Jung Hun-mo of the Gyeonggi Provincial Board of Education.

Americans teach English
Rhodes said he arranged to send four Americans to the school twice a week to teach English — including his 17-year-old daughter, who spent last summer vacation teaching in Taesungdong.

Last year, the school had just nine students. Now there are 21, Rhodes said with a smile as students vied to hold his hand and jump on his back before the games — relays, volleyball, tug-of-war — began.

Teacher Kim Bok-hee, 47, said the school is "very different" — not only because the students have access to native English speakers but also because of the bond she's formed with her three second-grade pupils.

"I see the same three faces every day," she said. "I don't think of them just as students — I think of them as my children."

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